The Free to Grow program focuses on protecting children from the risks associated with later substance abuse. The program provides intensive support to at-risk families, develops higher-level advocacy skills in strong families, cultivates leadership skills in parents of young children and other local residents, supports grassroots efforts to achieve fundamental changes at the community level, and collaborates with community service providers in support of Head Start's mission. After 5 years of study, a program evaluation of five sites concluded that: (1) Free to Grow developed, refined, implemented, and integrated models into Head Start's program structure that demonstrated the feasibility and value of implementing substance abuse prevention strategies within Head Start; (2) Head Start parents and staff, community residents, and collaborating service providers strongly endorsed Free to Grow's approach to prevention; and (3) participants felt that Free to Grow brought about important family and community changes, suggesting that the program may be appropriate and attractive to other communities facing similar challenges. Table, figure